Wilson Sporting Goods
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | Subsidiary of Amer Sports |
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| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Industry | Sportswear and Sports equipment |
| Products | Footwear Accessories Sportswear |
| Website | wilson.com |
The Wilson Sporting Goods Company is a sports equipment manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, and currently is a foreign subsidiary of the Finnish company Amer Sports[1] that also owns Atomic, Suunto, Precor USA, and Salomon.
Wilson makes equipment for many sports, among them badminton, baseball, basketball, softball, football, golf, racquetball, soccer, squash, tennis, and volleyball.
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[edit] Tennis
Wilson tennis racquets are used among many professional tennis players. Pete Sampras used one specific model to win 14 grand slam tennis tournaments; some of the best players currently using Wilson racquets are:
Roger Federer(Wilson KSix-One Tour 90)*formerly used the Wilson NSix-One Tour 90 and Wilson ProStaff Original 85
Jonas Björkman- George W. H. Armstrong
Nicolas Kiefer
Gastón Gaudio
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga- Guillermo Cañas
- Juan Martin del Potro
Dmitri Tursunov
Mardy Fish
Jarkko Nieminen- Chad Levy
Max Mirnyi
Justine Henin- Serena Williams
Karolina Sprem- Venus Williams
- Lindsay Davenport
- Christian Di Felice
Kei Nishikori
Mahesh Bhupathi- Tatiana Golovin
- Bethanie Mattek
Paulo Rubio
Former Wilson brand racquet-using players include Jack Kramer (has an eponymous model), Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Stefan Edberg, Novak Djokovic, and Steffi Graf.
The original kevlar Pro Staff model (Sampras' racquet) was heavy (350+gm) and small-headed (85 sq. in.); Roger Federer also used the same racquet model. Currently, he uses the KSix-One Tour model that is heavy (354 gm) and slightly larger(90 sq. in.). Also, many use custom-made racquets that perform differently than do the mass-produced versions.
In 1979, Wilson tennis balls were first used in the US Open,[2] and still are used to this day. In 2006, the Australian Open began using Wilson Tennis Balls.[3]
Aside from tennis racquets, the Wilson sporting goods company also makes tennis shoes, strings, clothes, and racquet bags.
[edit] American Football
The Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio manufactures footballs for both the National Football League and the United Football League (2009).
[edit] Golf
Wilson Staff is the golf division of Wilson Sporting Goods. The company designs and manufactures a full range of golf equipment, accessories and clothing using the Wilson Staff, ProStaff and Ultra brands.
Many of the worlds top professional golfers have used Wilson equipment including Arnold Palmer and Ben Crenshaw both of whom used a Wilson 8802 putter, Crenshaw's receiving the moniker Little Ben such was his proficiency with it, and Nick Faldo. Current Wilson Staff players include Open and USPGA champion Pádraig Harrington.
[edit] Volleyballs
Wilson makes the official volleyball of the AVP, the American professional beach volleyball league. A Wilson volleyball starred in the film Cast Away (2000), the volleyball was called Wilson (see story below).
[edit] Baseball
Wilson makes a variety of baseball gloves, with patterns and materials tested by the best names in the game. They make gloves for several different patterns: pitcher, catcher, infield, outfield, and first base. [4] They also Make Baseball Catcher's Gear
[edit] Sponsorship
Wilson is very active at sponsoring events, clubs and athletes.
[edit] In popular culture
[edit] Wilson the Volleyball
One of its products, a volleyball, "co-starred" alongside Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away. After the success of the film, Wilson Sporting Goods actually created and marketed volleyballs with Wilson's face on it for a short time.
[edit] References
- ^ Freudenheim, Milt (1989-02-21). "Amer Group to Acquire Wilson Sporting Goods". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DF1038F932A15751C0A96F948260. Retrieved on 2008-05-27.
- ^ "Wilson US Open ball". http://www.wilson.com/wilson/racquet/products.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673975924&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302756175&bmUID=1182358231397. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
- ^ "Australian Open Sponsors". http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/event_guide/sponsors.html. Retrieved on 2007-06-23.
- ^ Wilson baseball gloves
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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